Betrayed

'Huh?'

'The people who took you? Who are they?'

'They're not people, and they're not vampyres even though they drink blood, but they're not like you, Zo. They're—' he broke off, shuddering. 'They're something else. Something wrong.'

'Have they been drinking your blood?' The thought made me furious with such an intensity that I was having a hard time con­trolling my emotions. I wanted to rage at someone and shriek, He belongs to me! I forced myself to take several deep breaths while he answered me.

'Yeah, they have.' Heath grimaced. 'But they complain a lot about it. They say my blood doesn't taste right. I think that's the main reason I'm still alive.' Then he swallowed hard and his face got a shade paler. 'It's not like when you drink my blood, Zo. That feels good. What they do is—is disgusting. They're disgusting.'

'How many of them are there?' I said through gritted teeth.

'I'm not really sure. It's so dark down here and they always come in weird groups, all smushed together like they're scared of being alone. Well, except for three of them. One's named Elliott, one's called Venus—how weird is that—and the other one is called Stevie Rae.'

My stomach knotted. 'Does Stevie Rae have short, curly blond hair?'

'Yeah. She's the one that's in charge.'

Heath had just substantiated my fears. I couldn't call in the police.

'Okay, Heath. I'm going to get you out of there. Tell me how to find your tunnel.'

'Are you going to get the cops?'

'Yes,' I lied.

'Nope. You're lying.'

'I am not!'

'Zo, I can tell you're lying. I can feel it. It's that link thing.' He grinned.

'Heath. I can't get the police.'

'Then I'm not telling you where I am.'

Echoing from down one end of the tunnel came a skittering that reminded me of the sound the science experiment rats made as they scurried through the mazes we made in AP Bio. Heath's grin was gone, as was the color that had returned to his cheeks while we talked.

'Heath, we don't have time for this.' He started to shake his head no. 'Listen to me! I have special powers. Those—' I hesi­tated, not sure what to call the group of creatures that somehow included my dead best friend. 'Those things aren't going to be able to hurt me.'

Heath didn't say anything, but he didn't look convinced and the ratlike sounds were getting louder.

'You said you can tell I'm lying because of our link. It has to go both ways. You've got to be able to tell when what I say is the truth.' He looked like he was waffling, so I added, 'Think hard. You said you remembered some of that night you found me at Philbrook. I saved you that night, Heath. Not the cops. Not an adult vamp. I saved you, and I can do it again.' I was glad I sounded a lot more certain than I felt. 'Tell me where you are.'

He thought for a while, and I was getting ready to yell at him (again) when he finally said, 'You know where the old depot is downtown?'

'Yeah, you can see it from the Performing Arts Center where we went to see Phantom for my birthday last year, right?'

'Yeah. They took me to the basement of it. They got in through something that looks like a barred door. It's old and rusted, but it lifts right up. The tunnel starts from the drainage grates down there.'

'Good, I'll—'

'Wait, that's not all. There are lots of tunnels. They're more like caves. It's not cool like I thought they'd be from History class. They're dark and wet and disgusting. Pick the one on your right, and then keep turning to your right. I'm at the end of one of those.'

'Okay. I'll be there as soon as I can.'

'Be careful, Zo.'

'I will. You be safe.'

'I'll try.' Hissing was added to the scurrying noises. 'But you should probably hurry up.'

CHAPTER 28

I opened up my eyes and I was back in the stall with Persephone. I was breathing hard and sweating, and the mare was nuzzling me and making soft, worried, nickering noises. My hands were shak­ing as I caressed her head and rubbed her jaw, telling her that it was going to be okay, even though I was pretty sure it wasn't.

The old downtown depot was six or seven miles away in a dark, unused part of town under a big, scary bridge that linked one part of the city to the other. It used to be majorly busy, with freight and passenger trains coming and going almost nonstop. But in the past couple decades all of the passenger traffic had stopped (I knew because my grandma had wanted to take me on a train trip for my thirteenth birthday, and we'd had to drive to Oklahoma City to catch the train there) and the freight train business had definitely dwindled. Under normal circumstances, it would only take a few minutes to zip from the House of Night to the depot.

Tonight I was not dealing with normal circumstances.

The ten o'clock news had said the roads were impassable, and that had been—I checked my watch and blinked in surprise—a couple hours ago. I couldn't drive there. I suppose I could walk, but the urgency I felt was telling me that wasn't good enough.

'Take the horse.'

Persephone and I both shied at the sound of Aphrodite's voice. She was leaning against the stall door looking pale and grim. 'You look like crap,' I said.

She almost smiled. 'Visions suck.'

'Did you see Heath?' My stomach clenched again. Aphrodite didn't have visions of happiness and light. She saw death and destruction. Always.

'Yeah.'

'And?'

'And if you don't get on that horse and get your ass to wher­ever he is, Heath is going to die.' She paused, meeting my eyes. 'That is, unless you don't believe me.'

'I believe you,' I said without hesitation.

'Then get the hell out of here.'

She came into the stall and handed me a bridle I hadn't no­ticed she'd been holding. While I put it on Persephone, Aphrodite disappeared to come back with a saddle and saddle blanket. Silently, we put the tack on Persephone, who seemed to sense our intensity because she held completely still. When she was ready I led her from the stall.

'Call your friends first,' Aphrodite said.

'Huh?'

'You can't beat those things on your own.'

'But how are they going to go with me?' My stomach hurt, I was so scared my hands were shaking, and I was having trouble understanding what the hell Aphrodite was saying.

'They can't go with you, but they can still help you.'

'Aphrodite, I don't have time for riddles. What the hell do you mean?'

'Shit, I don't know!' She looked as frustrated as I felt. 'I just know that they can help you.'

I flipped open my cell phone and, following my gut and breathing a silent prayer for guidance from Nyx, punched Shaunee's number. She answered on the first ring.

'What's up, Zoey?'

'I need you and Erin and Damien to go somewhere together and call to your elements, like you did for Stevie Rae.'

'No problem. Are you gonna meet us?'